May 03, 2015

Don't mess with Texas

Some people in Texas held an art show today for pictures of Mohammed.

Obviously it was a provocation, and a pair of jihadis showed up to make the party complete. Latest word is that one policeman was shot in the leg, and has been released from the hospital. Meanwhile, the jihadis are both cooling.

They haven't been taken to any hospital because there was a strong suspicion that they were wired with explosives. So they got left where they fell until the bomb squad could check them out. I don't get the impression anyone is in any hurry, either.

Yes, the art show was a deliberate provocation. No doubt about that at all. But our right of free speech has been getting seriously eroded in the last few years by various forms of heckler vetos, and it was about time someone stood up for it. Some of the hecklers are willing to die in order to shut us all up. The only way to preserve our right is for some of us to risk death to prove how important it is.

Let's make something really clear: If we don't have the right to deeply offend other people, then we aren't free at all. If I can only say things that no one objects to, then I am a slave. The right of free speech must include offensive speech, including "hate speech", or it is meaningless.

The people who attended the show knew exactly what they were doing. (I wonder how many of them were carrying concealed?) Pam Geller, the organizer, wasn't stupid; apparently they spent $10,000 on security. From the evidence it was well spent.

As always, the press is trying to ignore what's obvious to everyone else. Wapo says:

The incident occurred outside theCurtis Culwell Center where the New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) was hosting a contest that would award $10,000 for the best cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad, according to the Associated Press. But Harn said its still unclear whether the shooting was related to the event.

Horseshit! If it's unclear to you, then you're blind!

The AFDI is classified as an anti-Muslim "hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Its leader, according to the group's social media postings, is Pamela Geller.

The Southern Povery Law Center's "hate group" listing has become notorious last couple of years because it paints with a ridiculously broad brush, and has included some absurd choices. But the point here for the Wapo is "See, those idiots holding this art show are h8ters; they brought this on themselves."

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